Northeast

Historic Maryland church opens doors to visitors 320 years after closing down

Published

10 months ago

May 10, 2025

Historic Maryland church opens doors to visitors 320 years after closing down

Visitors have been able to step into a reconstructed 17th-century Catholic church in Maryland for the first time – an opportunity over 320 years in the making.

Historic St. Mary’s City, an archaeological organization, opened up its Brick Chapel on April 12. The building was originally constructed in 1667. St. Mary’s City is a colonial town located in St. Mary’s County, off the western shore of Chesapeake Bay.

Fox News Digital spoke to Henry Miller, Ph.D., a senior research fellow at Historic St. Mary’s City, about the opening, the result of multiple excavations since 1988. (See the video at the top of this article.)

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While a wooden chapel was first built on the site in 1645, the structure burned down when Maryland was attacked by troops from the English Parliament.

“But in the 1660s, things had settled down, and the Brick Chapel, the first major brick building in Maryland, began to be constructed,” Miller said. “It was a very significant architectural achievement for the time and place.”

The church was “the center of Catholic worship in Maryland” until 1704, said Henry Miller, Ph.D., when a Protestant governor closed the church down. (Historic St. Mary’s City)

In the colonial era, it was generally forbidden by law for Catholics to have any churches, but Maryland offered a notable exception.

“It was only because of Lord Baltimore’s policy of liberty, of conscience and freedom of religion that [the church] could be erected,” the expert said.

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“So [the church] is really an important statement about the beginnings of religious freedom in what is now the United States and beyond.”

The Brick Chapel was the center of Catholic worship in Maryland until 1704, when the colony’s Protestant governor shuttered the building’s doors, Miller said. The sheriff “locked the door, [took] the key with him, and never again allow[ed] that building to be used for worship.”

Historic St. Mary’s City, an archaeological organization, opened its reconstructed Brick Chapel on April 12 after decades of historical work. (Historic St. Mary’s City)

“The freedom of belief, the freedom of religion that Lord Baltimore had championed totally ended at that time period,” the archaeologist said.

“A few years later, the building was demolished, and it basically disappeared from view and memory for over 200 years.”

“That building could not have been constructed anywhere else in the English-speaking world at this time.”

The church was entirely forgotten about until 1938, when an architectural historian spotted peculiar remains of a cross-shaped brick building.

Today, the Brick Chapel – rebuilt between 2004 and 2009 – has a recently finished interior that accurately captures what a 17th-century Catholic church would have looked like at the time.

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Miller recreated the building’s interior through several means, such as researching similar churches and obtaining art that was commonly used in Jesuit churches, he said. Not many artifacts survive at the site, thanks to Jesuits who dismantled their church and reused the materials elsewhere.

“The Jesuits were some of the first recyclers … They took everything above ground away and reused it,” Miller said.

“What we found were lots of fragments of plaster, of mortar and the five-foot-deep, three-foot-wide brick foundation.”

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“We actually let visitors see some of that original brickwork,” Miller added. “There was weird stone we found there in pieces, [and] we now know that they imported 14 tons of stone from Europe to pave the floor of this building.”

But the church still retains some original features. Miller also noted that the original tabernacle of the church survived, along with 17th-century lead coffins that visitors can view under a glass floor.

The chapel required extensive construction work and research to determine what a 17th-century Catholic church would have looked like. (Historic St. Mary’s City)

“The graves are both all around and inside the chapel,” Miller said. “There’s maybe 60 or 70 graves in the chapel, but there’s 300 to 400 outside.”

He added, “This was the largest 17th century cemetery in Maryland. So the grave distribution showed us also where the altar area, the formal area, began.”

Still, the process has been challenging – and Miller was only able to find one written description of the chapel, dating back to the late 1690s.

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“A Protestant governor, Francis Nicholson, was very anti-Catholic,” the archaeologist said. “And he said in a report, ‘The Catholics have several chapels in Maryland, including a good brick chapel at Saint Mary’s.’”

“We want you, as a visitor, to walk in and have a sense of what a 17th-century person would have seen.”

Miller joked, “Oh, how we wish he was a verbose kind of guy who would have given us more information. But for him to even say it was ‘good’ was probably a significant clue there.”

He added, “So it is based on lots of different information. It is as accurate as we can come up with.”

Still, the historian emphasized that no formal worship will take place in the new building – instead, it will exist as an exhibit on the history of religious freedom in Maryland.

“The seeds of faith planted there … grew the church and the first diocese that was established in Maryland in the year 1790,” Miller said. “So it truly is the founding place of the modern Catholic Church in the United States.”

The Brick Chapel is an accurate reconstruction of the original 1667 structure on the same site (foundation seen here) — and it has taken historians decades to recreate the church. (Historic St. Mary’s City)

“But it’s also a symbol, and this is what’s important,” he said. “That building could not have been constructed anywhere else in the English-speaking world at this time.”

Visitors may be surprised by the elegance of the church’s interior. Instead of a classic colonial New England church filled with wooden pews, the Brick Chapel has no pews at all.

Miller noted that, in colonial-era Catholic churches, worshippers either stood or knelt.

“The pews are more of a Protestant innovation,” Miller added. “If you had a two-hour-long sermon, seating would be very helpful there. Catholic sermons were probably considerably shorter.”

Visitors will be able to view original 17th-century lead coffins through a glass pane in the chapel. (Historic St. Mary’s City)

Miller said that decades of work have created a “unique exhibit.”

“We also want you, as a visitor, to walk in and have a sense of what a 17th-century person would have seen,” the archaeologist said. “We’ve hidden the exhibits in the arms of the building, where you don’t see them until you get right up on top of them.”

“It’s one that we have worked on for over 37 years, but I am delighted that it will finally be completed and we can start more effectively telling this significant American story.”

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Curto and Kyle Schmidbauer contributed to this report.

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Connecticut

Iranian Yale scholar in Connecticut celebrates fall of regime, calls for free elections

Published

16 minutes ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Iranian Yale scholar in Connecticut celebrates fall of regime, calls for free elections

HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB) – Thousands of Connecticut families with ties to Iran are watching and waiting as their home country undergoes a historic change.

Among them is Ramin Ahmadi, a Yale doctor, human rights activist and founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. He has spent decades advocating for freedom in Iran from his home in Connecticut.

Ahmadi moved to the United States when he was 18. On Saturday morning, he learned of military strikes in Iran and the death of the country’s supreme leader.

Ahmadi said protests for democracy and human rights in Iran intensified in December, drawing millions of participants — including his own family and friends.

“The situation in Iran was a humanitarian emergency and it needed an intervention,” Ahmadi said.

He said he celebrated when he heard the news Saturday morning.

“I was celebrating along with all other Iranians inside and outside the country,” Ahmadi said. “I do regret that we cannot bring him to a trial for crimes that he has committed against humanity.”

Ahmadi said he spoke with his sister in Iran after she celebrated in the streets. She was later told to return home for her safety.

He shared a message she relayed from those around her.

“They said do not let our death be exploited because worse than that is having to live with the criminals who have done this to us for the rest of our lives,” Ahmadi said. “We do not want to do that.”

For those questioning whether the conflict was America’s to engage in, Ahmadi offered a direct response.

“We will all be affected,” he said. “And to those that tell you that the U.S. and Israel are beating the drums of war in Iran, one has to remind them that it was not like before this Iranian people were listening to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor. We had a war already declared on us by this regime. We were being slaughtered on a daily basis.”

Ahmadi said he believes the path forward begins with young military officers forcing out what remains of the regime, followed by free elections.

“Everyone’s life will be safer in the future and not just Iranians,” Ahmadi said.

Connecticut lawmakers are also responding to the U.S. strikes on Iran.

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Maine

Building Hope: A Community Film Event to End Homelessness

Published

1 hour ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Building Hope: A Community Film Event to End Homelessness

On March 2, Spurwink will join community partners for a special viewing of Building Hope: Ending Homelessness in Maine at the University of Southern Maine’s McGoldrick Hall.

Directed by Richard Kane and produced by Melody Lewis-Kane, the film shines a compassionate light on the realities of Maine’s homelessness crisis. Through deeply personal stories, Building Hope explores the challenges faced by unhoused individuals and families, while highlighting the hope that emerges when communities come together to create solutions. It’s been praised for its honesty, dignity, and inspiring message: change is possible when we work together.

Following the screening, a panel of local leaders and advocates will discuss the film and the ongoing effort in Maine to end homelessness. Panelists will include Katherine Rodney, Director of Spurwink’s Living Room Crisis Center; Cullen Ryan, Chief Strategic Officer at 3Rivers; Donna Wampole, Assistant Professor of Social Work at USM; and Preble Street staff. Catherine Ryder, Spurwink’s Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, will bring her expertise in trauma-informed care and community collaboration to the panel as the moderator.

This event is free and open to the public.

McGoldrick Center, USM Portland campus

05:00 PM – 07:30 PM on Mon, 2 Mar 2026

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Massachusetts

Body camera video shows Massachusetts police officer save 78-year-old man from burning truck – East Idaho News

Published

2 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Body camera video shows Massachusetts police officer save 78-year-old man from burning truck – East Idaho News

EASTON, Mass. (WBZ) — Police body camera video shows an Easton, Massachusetts, officer rescuing a 78-year-old Raynham man from a burning car on Friday morning.

A Mack dump truck was experiencing problems on the side of Turnpike Street just after 2 a.m. when a Ford pickup truck struck the back of it, according to police.

The pickup truck then became stuck under the dump truck, trapping the driver, Francis Leverone, inside. A Toyota Camry then hit the back of the pickup truck and caught fire, police said.

Easton police officer Dean Soucie arrived at the crash and saw that the two vehicles were on fire. Video shows Soucie rushing over before breaking the driver’s side window and then, with the help of the two witnesses, freeing Leverone from the pickup truck. Soucie said he was confused but conscious.

“As I reached inside the vehicle, one of the passersby — he actually jumped into the cab of the truck, and he helped me free the individual,” Soucie said.

They then carried the driver to safety.

Leverone was taken to a nearby hospital before being transferred to a Boston hospital. He received serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

No one else was injured in the crash.

Dee Leverone told WBZ her husband is doing OK. “I’m just thankful for the people that got him out,” she said. “Very thankful.”

After watching the police body-cam video on the news she said, “I was shocked, I was like ‘Oh my God!’ I just couldn’t believe it. His truck is like melted.”

She says she realized that something was wrong last night when her husband never made it home from work.

“I kept trying to call him and call him, and I finally got a hold of him at like 4:30 a.m., and he was at (Good Samaritan Hospital) and he told me he’s gotten in an accident,” Dee said.

She says he’s recovering at the Boston Medical Center and being treated for a dislocated hip.

“He’s a trooper,” Dee said. “He’s a strong man — and you know he’s 78, but you know he’s a toughie. He definitely is a toughie.”

Soucie commended the help of the two witnesses and said that before he arrived at the crash, they had attempted to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher and removed a gasoline tank from the pickup truck before it could ignite.

“They jumped into action like it was nothing,” Soucie said. “Those two individuals were absolutely awesome.”

Easton Police Chief Keith Boone said that he is “extremely proud” of Soucie and the witnesses.

“He saved a life last night,” Chief Boone said. “He is an exemplary police officer and this is just one example. I think he’s a hero.”

Turnpike Street was closed for several hours following the crash. Easton Police are investigating.

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Historic Maryland church opens doors to visitors 320 years after closing down

Northeast

Historic Maryland church opens doors to visitors 320 years after closing down